West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-01-20
A MAN OF GREAT MUSCLE
STORIES OF A WEST VIRGINIA
MOUNTAIN SAMSON.
4 Man without Ribs-whipping 6
Bear With His Fists--A Remark.
able Character.


Bear With His Fists--A Remark.
able Character.
A letter from Charleston, w. Va, &c
the Cincinnati Enquirer says: About
sixty years or more since there lived il
Nicholas County one Of tho strongest
men tho country ever produced Daniel
Holiday was a man about forty years Of
| age when first knew him in 1925. He
| was at that period one of the most noted
hunters in the country; tall, about six
feet in his moccasins; weight about two
hundred and sixty pounds, raw .boned
and muscular-a perfect type Of phys.
| ical manhood. One peculiar feature of
| Holiday was the fact that the man had
no ribs. Where his ribs ought TO have
been there was but one solid bone. His
arms, chest and limbs were n mass OF
muscle. have known Holiday 10 tie
his right hand behind his back, and
with the free arm to throw two OF the
best athletes in the neighborhood. His
fcats OF strength were astonishing and
OF daily occurrence, but perhaps the one
which, from its oddly, attracted the
greatest attention, was his bare handed
tight with Il bear
Holiday had often laughingly said he
believed he could whip a bear with his
bare hands in a square pitched battle
One day, while hunting in the mountains,
he shot at and wounded large buck
which ran into the laurel brush. Holli.
day saw that it was desperately wounded
and followed it by the drops and
clots OF blood on the leaves. He
had forgotten TO load his rifle, and was
walking along the mountain side trail
ing the buck, when he came TO a large
tree which had been uprooted by
storm, leaving large cavity under the
overhanging roots. In this hollow,
which was pretty well filed with leaves,
large bear lay curled up asleep. The
footsteps of Holiday aw ke his bear.
ship, and he arose on his launches and
growled. When Holiday came in sight
the bear arose and walked toward him
growing. Just before he reac he'd Holli.
day he got up on his hind feet and came
at him, his little piggish eyes swapping
with mischief. Holiday threw his rife,
which was unloaded, TO the ground and
prepared himself for a fair, square fight
with natures weapons. IL must have
been IN interesting sight to spectator
at n safe distance-a man trying to whip
big bear with his bare hands. The
bear walked up within reaching dis
lance, when Holiday struck him on the
nose, knocking his head to one side and
making him snort with rage. He followed
up his advantage and landed several ter.
rible blows on the beasts sides and
neck. The bear, though, like all of his
species, an adept at sparring, was not
quick enough to guard himself from the
blows of his human antagonist or to inllict
any injury with his terrible claws. In
about two or three minutes Holiday had
struck and kicked the bear until he had
knocked the breath out of him. And he
seemed anxious to quit, when Holiday
landed terrible blow in his stomach.
This mode of warfare disguised the
bear, and he drew off and lay down. By
this time Holiday thought it time to
end the affair, and reached for his gun.
Before he could load it the bear, who
must have gotten his second wind, got
up and came at him again in deadly
earnest. This time the fight was worse
than before. The bear made several at
tempts to strike and claw Holiday, but
the latter was too quick for him and gave
him fearful blow on the ear, making
him whine. Holiday followed this up
by kicking him and banging him in the
nose and any where he could. The
blows on the nose seemed to have de-
cided effect, for it was not long before
the bear dropped on all tours and re-
treated to the hollow, where he laid
down, whining like whipped child.
Holiday then quickly loaded his gun
aud shot him dead. The animal weighed
about four hundred pounds, and when
skinned the flesh showed a dozen places
where Holidays huge fist had bruised
1t. There can be no doubt that Holli-
day whipped the bear, as he described.
Tor he feared nothing living and scorned
lie. His feats Of strength and courage
we're marvellous, and would have filed a
volume had there been any one about
capable of describing them.
have seen him, when / was Young
man, at work carrying rails with which
70 build fence on mountain side.
Holiday would take eight or ten rails,
tie them together, aud carry them up the
steep mountain side apparently as easily
40 other men would carry single rail,
and ne would do it seemingly with little
or no effort
Another one Of Holidays adventures
is worth telling. One day while hunt
ing Holiday found a den OF some ami
NAL in cave in the mountain side.
With his usual courage and rashness he
determined to investigate 1t. lie crawled.
OF slipped through a narrow passage for
about thirty or forty feet, when he came
to an opening. A cleft in the rocks
above Lighted up the place, which was a
room about twenty feet square. In one
corner he found two panther cubs about
the size Of half-grown kittens. Holiday
Immediately killed them by the butt OF
his gun. He then started to 20 out,
knowing that the old panthers might re-
turn at any moment. Just as he got about
half way out Of tho cave one Of the old
panthers leaped into the entrance Here
was fearful state Of affairs. but IL did
not daunt Holiday. lie Immediately
took aim as best he could and fred. The
bullet struck the panther, but did not
kill it, Tho brute spran0 Mt Holiday
with a scream Of rage aud pain, and
landed just i'm front Of him, either hav-
ing miscalculatcd the distance or having
been too badly wounded. The brute had
no sooner struck the ground when Hol-
liday struck 10 fIll between the ewes with
the end Of bis heavy gun, crushing its
,kull Hc then drew the body TO the
mouth Of the cave and threw IL down
and began loading his gun. lie had got
the powder in and was Just fitting n
bullet when the other old panther. the
male, spranR from the brush i'm front Of
him. Holiday succeeded In killing this
ono, too, after receiving one or two 80
we're scratches from his claws The